There was careful calculation behind Oregon's decision to run two men's distance medley relay teams on Jan. 31 at the UW Invitational.

The Ducks' showed off their depth in the mid-distance and distances by posting times that stand No. 2 and No. 4 on this season's college list.

The team of Mac Fleet, Jack Galpin, Boru Guyota and Edward Cheserek crossed in 9 minutes, 28.91 seconds. The team of Brett Johnson, Arthur Delaney, Russell Hornsby and Trevor Dunbar finished in 9:31.64.

"I was really happy with that," UO coach Robert Johnson said, noting that last year Oregon's men's DMR was the fastest not to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

"We wanted to make sure that didn't happen again. We took it upon ourselves to set up the competition in the race so we wouldn't let that happen again."

Mission accomplished -- although who else essentially could set up a fast DMR from within their own roster the way the Ducks can?

After taking last week off, the Ducks will split their squad this weekend. They will send one group to the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., site of this year's NCAA Indoor, and another to Seattle for the Husky Classic.